. >> president obama gave an endorsement to his apparent top candidate to replace hillary clinton as secretary of state. during a cabinet meeting the president called un ambassador rice extraordinary saying he could not be more proud of her work. she's come under fire from g.o.p. for her comments on talk shows regarding deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi and libya. initially said waits the work of a mob protesting antimuslim trailer. it turned out to be a planned terrorist attack. >> i would just ask the president to step back from just a moment and realize that all of us, here, hold the secretary of state to a very different standard than most cabinet member autos that was senator bob corker. the president has not yet nominated rice for the position but most insiders expect him to do so soon. >> in the meantime, the president met with middle class americans raising concerns about taxes going up at the end of the year. both republicans and democrats agree that had no one wants the country to go over the so called fiscal cliff. but what are they doing about it? >> at the